Theatre Horizon presents An Infinite Ache'

By ADAM CRUGNALE , For Journal Register News Service

Friday, February 1, 2013

Most of us have had our share of bad dates.

The wine is spilled and the dress is ruined; fellow movie patrons laugh too loud and too much; credit cards don’t quite work as expected, leaving our faces flushed and pockets fished for cash (I can’t be the only one!).

In Theatre Horizon’s upcoming production of David Schulner’s “An Infinite Ache,” the story begins at a curious juncture: a flop. Charles, an ambitious young man, sets out on his own live-the-life-of-a-writer. He meets an emotional woman named Hope and their first date passes without any sparks — at least not the bright fireworks display so many movies and novels have lauded as love, because Charles and Hope get hitched, and the audience watches as the story of their union unfolds before their eyes.

“It’s a very intimate play,” said Erin Reilly, Theatre Horizon’s artistic director. “It’s about the daily triumphs and failures that we as people must face when we really commit ourselves to another person.”

The playwright is perhaps suggesting that love doesn’t happen on a grand scale. It’s found in the little things, the day-to-day routines. It’s found between the lines of your to-do list. In a world so eager to saturate us with impossible definitions of love, “Ache” follows this married couple’s relationship through five decades and the many changes, knockdowns and victories that make a lasting relationship.

“An Infinite Ache” takes place entirely in a single room. The audience watches the set transform over time from a young man’s studio apartment into a couple’s domesticated living space and all the trappings that entails.

“I think Schulner wrote part of the play as a game for the audience,” said Reilly. Schulner keeps the audience engaged with the story by keeping them guessing — the sets are swapped, rotated and remade to signal that time has passed. Set and costume changes clue the audience in on what time period it may be, though Reilly adds, “no part of the play is wedded to any single decade.”

“Ache” stars Bryn Mawr native Griffin Stanton-Ameisen as Charles, a young man desirous of a writing career, and Bi Jean Ngo as a tender-hearted Hope.

Stanton-Ameisen left home and went west to learn acting and graduating from Temple University with a bachelor of arts in theater then went on to receive his master of fine arts. in theater from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

He has since returned home to spread his talent.

Though only in his 20s, Ameisen has an impressive resume: “Lord of the Flies,” “The Tempest,” “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Don Juan” are just a few of the productions he’s been involved with. With that much experience, the audience can expect a complex performance that is easily worth the $31 for general admission (discounts available).

The story also explores biracial relationships. Hope is Asian-American and Charles is Jewish, and this ties more into the story as it progresses (which customs are forgotten and which do we keep? how do we raise the children?).

This production of “An Infinite Ache” is directed by Megan Nicole O’Brien, the artistic director and co-founder of 11th Hour Theatre Company.

She directed a critically acclaimed production of “Austentatious” as well as “Godspell Jr.”

There is something to be said for social media and the level of technology responsible for spreading it like wildfire.

Popular social media like Facebook and Twitter have boiled communication across the world down to a mere click of a button. But at what point in our attempts to communicate and feel real human intimacy does the connection lose its meaning?

Said Jean Ngo, “In this day and age, so many of us are tied to social networks through smart phones and laptops, and people are becoming increasingly distant and incapable of intimacy. ‘An Infinite Ache’ is about two people who spend a lifetime trying to achieve emotional, intellectual and physical intimacy.”

Theatre Horizon is exploring this theme of struggling for real human intimacy and the kind of love that never burns out. Perhaps the ache found in “An Infinite Ache” is the need we all have for real intimacy, to be vulnerable in forming connections with the people with whom we surround ourselves.